by Power, P. S.
“Well, that more than satisfies the requirements for the test except for time on the cutting field, I suppose we can take turns beating you for a while... But I think your design proves out. Especially since the original test was to take place on the pell and not Tor at all... and it was really just supposed to hold against sword blows and cutters, as I believed you knew Wensa? To my knowledge there are no shields that have been made that can do all of this yet. Even asking for physical protection and cutters was pushing it a bit.” The large man stepped back and regarded her closely.
Wensa smiled at the man and nodded.
“I knew the field would hold. Besides, anyone making something like this they wouldn't trust their life with, doesn't deserve to live.”
Trice walked up and threw more of the white powder in his face from about five or six feet back, without warning. It hung in the air and sifted to the ground, not touching him at all. He was able to keep breathing the whole time at least. When it all settled the girl slowly put her hand on his cheek, which, because of the soft and gentle movement made contact.
She leaned in as if to kiss him, which, he knew, had to be a trick. Because no one ever tried to kiss him. He hopped back just as the knife would have stabbed him in the stomach, causing her to lurch and the knife to stop as she pushed too hard. It could have cut him if it came slow and soft, but the design of the field let him move away from the blade even as it did. A flaw in the shield he knew, but one that he hoped could be worked around.
It was his advisor, Frank Gear, who suggested they pick him up and toss him in the low pond; to see if he'd found a way to breathe underwater. The idea made him wince, but it turned out that even working together they couldn't pick him up. Five of the larger people, including Kolb, tried. Tor could walk, even run full speed, but any large, or fast, outside force directed at him was absorbed by the ground. To lift him they'd have to shift about five tons of earth underneath him too.
Kolb and the older man both smiled. The gray beard walked towards him and stopped about ten feet away; his smile seemed genuine at least. Tor wondered what he was going to hit him with, but the gentleman just kept looking happy and spoke in pleased tones.
“Congratulations, this is... impressive hardly covers it. Do you think you can duplicate the field?” The man looked politely interested and stroked his beard sagely. It was an awesome piece of facial hair, white and down to the front of his collar.
“Oh sure. This is a copy. I have the original template and nine more of these back in my room. I didn't want to come out here with one made of wood. It just seemed tacky.” He smiled and hoped that no one would make fun of him for the obvious holes in the whole thing. Trice had gone right through his field. If she'd tried to choke him instead of stab he'd probably be unconscious already.
The man nodded and looked at the weapons instructor.
“Try to sweet talk him into lending us some of those, eh?” He turned to Tor and winked, smoothing his black tunic with his right hand. “You've already made ten copies? Incredible. I won't insist, they're yours after all, but the school can't really afford something of that quality for practice. I don't know, but I think the military might not have shields of this quality for the most part. Certainly not covering so many different potential combat aspects. A lot of people will benefit if you're willing to perhaps, lend us some?”
The man didn't stand around waiting for a yes or no; instead he walked over to Wensa, whispered something in her ear with a smile and gestured towards the gate. The woman, for the first time that Tor could remember, laughed out loud and turned to leave, an actual smile on her face. She nodded towards him as she walked past. Probably her way of telling him that he'd better be ready for her. It wasn't lost on him that almost everything she'd just tried on him was outside what the test was supposed to entail.
Crap. Well, at least he had some ideas of what he had to fix.
Sara ran up to him excitedly and bounced on the balls of her feet, her eyes going wide.
“So, do we have the same deal on these as for the clothes drying device? Oh, the food dryer too?” Her voice was excited and breathless. He shrugged. Would anyone want a shield like this? Oh, soldiers maybe, and him, as protection against the evil Wensa, but who else needed something like this? Still, the food dryers might be useful, so they could sell. Dried fruit took a lot of prep time, because big pieces or whole fruit didn't air dry well, they rotted and mildewed. With what he'd come up with – what he and Rolph had come up with, he corrected – whole fruits, even large ones, and vegetables could be processed within minutes, right out in the field.
He nodded and grinned at the blond.
“Sure. Ten percent of any sales you set up.”
The girl turned half to the side, looking at him strangely. If he'd been back in his own village he would have thought she was being coy. Here it was probably something else. Like she wanted something from him. Trice pushed her on the shoulder to move the girl out of the way; looking down at him the dark haired girl cleared her throat.
“It's like this Tor. Sara has some connections in manufacturing, and if you're willing to part with the templates for these fields, she can set up having a lot of them made. You don't get as much money from each one, but silvers add up too. Plus it's a lot less work for you in the long run. Still, you make these things pretty fast, so it's something to think about. I think it comes down to how many other ideas you want to work on. If you want to hang with these, you get more gold making them yourself as fast as you can. If you want to do other devices, its worth more to free up the time and let other people do the copies for you.” The girl didn't shrug; instead she nodded as if trying to get him to just agree with her.
Of course he already knew about using templates in manufacturing. It was kind of the point of novel building, at least if you weren't making a one up. You wanted copies and ideally you set up the templates to be easy to do up by anyone that had the talent. Tor had, on all the templates he'd built. It took hours of extra work, but it was potentially worth it. It was part of the reason he could make batches of ten at once in the copying process. Not every builder used the multiple copy idea, but about half were now.
“Sure, that should work. Let me get some run up here first, for our own use and for sale or whatever. Um, is anyone going to be interested in these things though? I mean a clothes drying device is handy, but how many people can afford ten or eleven gold for something like that? The food dryers, well those should make money, but may take some time to catch on. Shields... Well, same thing really. We could probably make enough right here given what people will want, right?”
For some reason everyone started laughing at him, he looked around to see if someone had put a sign on his back when he wasn't looking, but Rolph shook his head.
“Nah, look Tor, you're thinking on a village scale, but Sara and her people can take this across the land. Maybe even into other lands eventually. A lot of people will want some of these things.”
Laughing Tor waved that away, since it didn't sound likely at all, but told them that they could do whatever they wanted. Sure, he'd like some coin from it, who wouldn't? But what did he really need? As a kid he'd dreamed of making a lot, like a hundred golds per year. Past that... What would he do with it anyway? Buy a bunch of things he didn't need? With that much money he could build the fields he wanted and not have to worry about going hungry or losing his home. Even have some left for savings and luxuries as long as he didn't go crazy with it.
He'd leave the money part to his friends. After all, school had to come first. Of course that meant surviving long enough. Wensa... What was he going to do about her anyway? He couldn't kill her. A Royal Guard was protected from most prosecution and their death treated the same as killing a noble almost. His family might survive, but they'd all be dispossessed of worldly goods after his execution. Count Lairdgren would see to that no doubt. So it was right out. He couldn't run, because that would make him look guilty. Tor had the shield, but he need
ed to fix the problems and gaps in it. She was too smart not to have noticed those. She may be evil, but she wasn't teaching economics because it was the world's most simple class. She had to know what she was talking about there too, on top of being a Royal Guard.
A slow cord over the neck would take him out right now or a pillow over his head while he slept. She might be big and strong enough to do that to him.
So fix it. The thought practically rang in his mind for a few moments.
Right. Don't be a crybaby, just get ready and do what could be done. It was all he really had after all.
Torrence knew that he couldn't afford to wait for her to come after him. He had to find out how she'd attack, and defend against it first, because she'd be too good to let have the upper hand. Most of the teachers had left, so he asked the people remaining how they thought Wensa would come for him next. Rolph looked angry and started to reassure him, but Kolb put out his right hand in a gesture meant to get him not to speak.
“Right now? Well, she had to have noticed the suffocation problem when she used fire. That has to be addressed. Also, the slow field passage is a gap you can't afford, but I'm betting you already saw that. If you don't fix that one, all the combat instructors will use it against you. Mental forces would be next after that I'd think. We didn't test them, but off the battlefield they aren't often used as weapons. She'd have to import something, but that could happen, she has the resources, so I wouldn't leave it long.” He tapped his fingers on his chin.
“Some of the Austran weapons use incredibly tiny machines, and illnesses, so things to defeat that would also be good. I don't know if she can get those, but I don't know she can't either. Other than that...” He spread his hands as if to say he didn't know.
Count Thomson stepped towards him with a nod. “Poisons. Normally a Royal Guard wouldn't bother, but it's not totally unheard of. Something to watch for if she can't get at you any other way. If I can think of it inside ten seconds, she can do it in three.”
The idea made Tor want to faint. He had to eat in the dining hall. He couldn't afford anything else. He didn't see the food being prepared at all; it just came out through a window at him three times a day. How could he protect himself there? As an instructor she could just walk in and add poison to his food without anyone even trying to stop her or crying foul. Then as a Royal Guard she could walk away chuckling about how stupid he was. Totally unpunished for killing him.
From the back of the group a cluster of combat giants pushed Petra forward suddenly and she spoke, her voice surprisingly soft and kind sounding.
“What about electrical weapons? Those haven't been tested for yet... Or light based ones?”
That sounded highly likely. All of it did. Especially since he hadn't even known that half those things existed at all.
“Of course...” The Count looked at him seriously his eyes dark for a moment. Then suddenly he smiled. “I do know a certain Count that could simply order her not to kill you. She can't countermand that unless the King orders it done you know. That should at least buy you a little time. As long as you don't make the King mad at you, and he's a decently level-headed person.” The blond giant man winked at him knowingly.
“In fact, if you ever meet him, I'm sure the two of you will be fast friends. He tends to like people that actually manage to get things done. So that has you written all over it.”
“Would you speak to her? Just knowing that she didn't plan to kill me in my sleep would be a relief. Or poison my food. I could probably put up with the rest if I could get those...”
Smiling the man nodded and said he'd see what he could arrange directly. It felt like a heavy weight lifted from his shoulders. Of course, just because she wouldn't be trying to kill him, that didn't mean she couldn't just get someone else to do it. He had to make what preparations he could fast. It was like the Count had said, if he could think of a way around it, so could she. It was her job after all. Only a fool would underestimate her.
Carefully Tor walked back to his room with Rolph and the girls, watching carefully as he did. After a few minutes Trice asked why he was being so paranoid. He blinked. Had she not been paying attention at all?
“Um, let's see, a crazy woman just used three weapons trying to kill me and two of them weren't anything I'd ever seen before. The shield wasn't even supposed to be able to stop anything like that. If I hadn't just guessed that something like that might happen, I'd be dead right now. I know the Count said he'd give an order, but... Really, Royal Guards aren't well known for being sane? She could just decide that her dying was worth it, in order to take me out... Why I don't know, but her thinking I'm a threat doesn't make any sense at all either. Insane doesn't always have a reason that normal can understand, right?”
He glanced at his friends and they all looked a bit worried. After all, he had a point, didn't he? Trice put her arm across his shoulders, or at least tried to. The action from walking kept the shield pushing her arm away from him. She laughed and told him that no matter how pissed Wensa was at him, she wouldn't dare kill him with a Ducherina on his arm. Too great a chance of accidentally getting her instead.
Grudgingly he disabled the field so he wouldn't look stupid. The girl put her arm over his shoulders protectively, as if he were a little kid that needed her to save him. He considered that for a moment, and tilted his head. That was about right, wasn't it? If nothing else he could always pretend she was trying to tell him she liked him. It wasn't true of course, but he could imagine it. Well... if he tried really hard at least.
That night, instead of eating, giving that a pass at least until he had word that Wensa had orders not to poison him, Tor decided to make more copies of things instead. It would take a few days for him to work up to his next project anyway. Rolph and Sara wanted more clothes dryers and the first batch of the food ones for testing. Trice suggested he put out a good bunch of shields for the school, even if he was going to make better ones soon, because that would spread good will. He sent Rolph out to get more copper plates and acid for etching then got to work.
For the next week he spent most of his free time making up field copies, which oddly enough kept his instructors happy, so he didn't even have to do out of class work for any of them. Kolb made him run and practice every day for two hours, but that wasn't new or anything.
On the sixth day a rare spring time freeze happened, catching everyone off guard. It wasn't just chilly, the ground actually froze solid outside, a bitter cold that made it hard to sleep, even under thick blankets, filled the rooms. The fires could be started down on the lowest levels, but by the time his and Rolph's room warmed up, it probably wouldn't be even cold anymore. The school wasn't even going to bother with it, figuring that it would be largely wasted effort.
Could he use a field device for that? It would have to be huge, but...
Tor started drawing up the plans. Halfway through he started laughing. Couldn't he just reverse the process in the summer and cool down a house or room as well? The idea was simple enough, pull heat from the ground, deep down where it was warm, when cold weather came and then do the opposite in hot weather, which should keep everything roughly in balance in the ground over time even. He smiled. It shouldn't even be that hard. That was basically how he'd built the shield to defeat extreme heat after all, so he already kind of knew what to do.
Two days later, still incredibly cold outside, he hit the warming sigil and waited, the room grew toasty, and then after a few hours, almost too warm. He turned it off to see what would happen. The heat left slowly, just like from a fire. Unlike a fire, the whole room was warm, no cold spot by the door particularly or along the back wall away from the fire. Heh. Worked.
Later that night everyone came to his and Rolph's room to hang out, mainly to talk business. Sara jokingly asked him to marry her when he explained the field to them. He laughed, but no one else did. Trice shook her head, arms crossing playfully, then looking directly at her friend.
“Sorry Sara, I saw
him first. Anyway, how many of these can you get going by tomorrow?”
The answer varied, based on how much sleep he'd be willing to do without. The answer that satisfied everyone was twenty. Sara acted like even that was nearly impossible, but it wouldn't be that hard, maybe taking three or four hours, tops. The girls waited while he made the first batch, each of them taking one and putting it in their coat pockets when he had them done. Sara pulled the rest of them to take with her and urged him to start the next batch, which she'd be back for in the morning, she promised.
Rolph stayed quiet and mercifully didn't tease him about the girls mocking him earlier about marriage like that, after they left, allowing him to get right back to work. He turned his light off so that the other boy could sleep and finished an hour before midnight. As long as he didn't toss and turn, he could get nearly eight hours sleep before he had to be up in the morning for meditations. Yay. That had worked out at least. It was a lot easier to sleep in a warm room than freezing cold.
The next morning Sara came for the next batch just before he had to go to breakfast, the girl didn't follow him, having promised the heating and cooling plates to some of her friends already. Well, at least they'd all sleep warm that night. He didn't really think about anything but school work for a while after that, except for making incremental shield improvements. He came up with a breathing tube function that would let him go underwater at least a bit. He still got wet, but air went into his mouth and nose as long as he didn't go deeper than three feet. At that depth he couldn't force his lungs to draw the air in for some reason; it felt like the air just wasn't thick enough. Not that he planned on trying that anytime soon, but it was nice to know he could if someone managed to throw him in the pond.
It wasn't until a few weeks later, when Kolb presented him with his next assignment of “insane combat giant” building that things really started to get shaken up. Sara had collected the templates and sent them off to her mother, so his personal copy work had ended for the time being. She gave out a lot of the fields he'd made to people at the school, which didn't bother him at all really. If they could use them, why shouldn't people have them? Tor didn't get the whole pretending they were being sold thing himself, maybe that was just a game rich people played or maybe Sara wasn't as good at selling things as she pretended? It left him more time for Kolb's new project, which was something that he'd never even thought of before.